I am pleased to be with you today and to visit Papua New Guinea. I thank the Governor General for his cordial words of welcome and I thank all of you for your warm reception. I extend my greetings to the people of the country, wishing them peace and prosperity. And I also express my gratitude to the Authorities for helping the Church, in a spirit of mutual cooperation and for the benefit of the common good, as she carries out many activities.

In your homeland, an archipelago with hundreds of islands, more than eight hundred languages are spoken, corresponding to just as many ethnic groups. This points to an extraordinary cultural and human richness. I must confess that this greatly fascinates me, also on a spiritual level, because I imagine that this enormous variety is a challenge to the Holy Spirit, who creates harmony amid differences! [...]

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Read the Pope's other addresses during his Apostolic journey to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste, Singapore